Riverdale

Despite two court hearings and a hurried telephone negotiation with Riverdale Apartments owner Richard Schlesinger yesterday, the drama of the slowly dying housing complex continued to build toward a climax next week.That's when Baltimore Gas and Electric has said it will turn off the power at the dilapidated Essex development because of an unpaid $600,000 bill.In Essex, Baltimore County District Judge G. Darrell Russell declined to allow 42 evictions scheduled for the complex, at least until a hearing Monday.

Tennis Francis Tiafoe loses in 3rd round of Wimbledon juniors After an error brought him within two points of conceding the opening set of his third-round match at Wimbledon's Junior Championships, Francis Tiafoe bashed his racket on the grass court and drew a warning from the chair umpire. He lost the set in a tiebreak. Then, after leveling the match at one set apiece only to fall behind in the third set, Tiafoe blasted a ball out of the court upon committing another gaffe.

A 43-year-old man has been indicted in a break-in and attempted rape case from 1997 after a fingerprint on a window screen led police to the man earlier this year. Marco Moncello Kornegay of Riverdale now faces charges including first-degree attempted rape, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree burglary and indecent exposure. He is free on $150,0000 bond, according to electronic court records. According to charging documents, Kornegay was naked except for a bandana over part of his face when he broke into an apartment in the 11000 block of Little Patuxent Parkway in July 1997 and attacked a woman.

Francis Tiafoe of Riverdale Park, who on Sunday advanced to the second round of the 2014 Junior French Open with a straight-sets win, was eliminated Monday by unseeded German Jan Choinski . The Prince George's County product entered the tournament at Roland Garros as the No. 1 seed in the junior competition. "It's not easy," Tiafoe said afterward. "Obviously you're feeling pressure, me being the one seed, and the guy is playing unbelievable tennis. Obviously you're thinking you don't want to lose in the second round.

By Michael James and Joe Nawrozki and Michael James and Joe Nawrozki,SUN STAFF | March 16, 2000

A federal judge has ordered former Baltimore County real estate baron Richard M. Schlesinger to pay $185,000 to the federal government for misusing housing funds that he was supposed to have spent on badly needed repairs and upkeep on his property. The ruling also paves the way for a trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore in which prosecutors will try to collect up to $600,000 more in damages they say Schlesinger owes because of gross mismanagement at Riverdale Apartments in Essex. The development was left in such disrepair that county officials tore it down in 1998.

The long-awaited demolition of the derelict Riverdale Village Apartments in Essex is to begin April 14 -- more than a year later than originally planned -- now that the federal Small Business Administration has awarded a $1.2 million contract for the work.P&J Contracting Co. of Baltimore won the contract to knock down the 24 buildings on the federally owned half of the arson-marred brick complex in the 1900 block of Eastern Blvd., ++ the agency said yesterday.Though the rest of the abandoned, 35-acre complex will remain for the time being, Baltimore County officials hailed the federal demolition contract as the beginning of the end of the housing eyesore.

Former workers at the Riverdale Village apartments in Baltimore County have described to federal investigators a pattern of bid-rigging and kickbacks totaling at least $500,000 at the now-condemned complex, according to search warrant affidavits.Repair prices were routinely inflated, according to one handyman, who said he kicked back nearly $50,000 annually in deals with companies linked to Riverdale's landlord. Another worker said she was instructed to have windows and other equipment sent from the complex to other properties controlled by the landlord.

Demolition begins today on the remaining units at the empty Riverdale apartment complex in Essex, once a high-crime area and a nagging eyesore.County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger will be joined by U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes and other officials as workers begin clearing the site in the 1800 block of Eastern Blvd."

A Prince George's County congregation has removed the "mega" from its proposed church complex in Davidsonville to meet new county rules targeting large projects planned on rural land.Davidsonville residents immediately denounced the revised plan as a ruse by Riverdale Baptist Church leaders, who for five months have waged an unsuccessful and expensive campaign to build a $10 million complex.Riverdale pastors outlined yesterday a new project 34 percent smaller than the one originally envisioned.

Florida-based real estate baron Richard M. Schlesinger has agreed to pay $500,000 to the federal government after he admitted skimming profits from the now demolished Riverdale Village Apartments complex in Essex. By agreeing to the settlement, Schlesinger avoids standing trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore on charges that he skimmed profits from Riverdale and failed to properly maintain the property, which fell into disrepair and became a slum. As part of the agreement reached this week, Schlesinger is barred nationwide from participation in federal housing programs.

Matt McPhearson is the outlier of his family, the ugly duckling of sorts. With a family of football players, the gridiron seemed like the obvious choice. Instead, McPhearson chose baseball, and Thursday night the speedy center fielder could become the first high school or college player from the state to be drafted in the first or second round of baseball's amateur draft since 2007. "It's a blessing," said McPhearson, who lives in Columbia and just finished his senior year at Riverdale Baptist School in Prince George's County.

Aberdeen's girls basketball team got off to a quick start Thursday night, scoring the first eight points against nationally ranked Riverdale Baptist, but with the Eagles' lack of a true point guard and the Crusaders' impressive perimeter shooting, it couldn't last. Riverdale Baptist, ranked No. 17 in USA Today's Girls Basketball Super 25 and No. 4 in The Washington Post, hit 14 3-pointers en route to an 85-66 victory at No. 1 Aberdeen, their third win over the Eagles in less than a year.

Dr. Moreland Perkins, a philosophy professor who taught at the University of Maryland, College Park and was also former mayor of Riverdale Park, died Nov. 7 of pneumonia at St. Joseph Medical Center. The Roland Park resident was 85. "Moreland was highly analytical, sympathetic to mysticism and religion and the spirit of caring for other people. He was a highly principled person," said Dr. John H. Brown, a retired philosophy professor who taught at the University of Maryland, College Park for 39 years.

Two Prince George's County firefighters, who were seriously injured while fighting a house fire in Riverdale, remained in critical but stable condition Sunday, according to their families. Bladensburg volunteer firefighter Ethan Sorrell, 21, remained intubated but was conscious at the Washington Hospital Center's burn unit. He suffered burns to his airway. Kevin O'Toole, 22, also a Bladensburg volunteer firefighter, had burns over 40 percent of his body and was expected to remain in the hospital's burn unit for at least six weeks, according to fire officials, citing O'Toole's father, Jeff.

Aberdeen's No. 1 girls basketball team found itself in double jeopardy Tuesday night at nationally ranked Riverdale Baptist. The Eagles managed to climb out of a 10-point first-half hole, but when Riverdale made its run in the third quarter, they weren't able to answer, falling, 72-51, for their first loss of the season to the Crusaders, ranked No. 6 in USA Today's Girls Basketball Super 25 and No. 1 in The Washington Post. "It's a great learning experience," Aberdeen forward TK Fowlkes said.

Federal authorities are combing through thousands of records seized as part of an investigation of the condemned Riverdale Village Apartments in eastern Baltimore County and the property's landlord, Florida real estate mogul Richard M. Schlesinger.Stephen M. Schenning, first assistant U.S. attorney for Maryland, said agents from the FBI and U.S. Postal Service seized the paperwork Wednesday from two locations on Orville Road in Essex and the boarded-up rental office at Riverdale in the 1800 and 1900 blocks of Eastern Blvd.

A FEW LONGTIME tenants of the rotting Riverdale Village apartments in Essex may have shed a tear when the place shut down this week. Most folks in the neighborhood, though, say, "Good riddance," to a housing complex that has long been an eyesore, unsafe and a breeding ground for illicit activity.The beginning of the end came a month ago, when Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. announced it would cut off power at Riverdale on June 11 because absentee slumlord Richard Schlesinger has not paid $600,000 in utility bills.

Digital Harbor coach Patrick McDonald told his players prior to Saturday night's game against Riverdale Baptist that they would likely not run into a more difficult opponent the rest of the season. The Lady Crusaders are ranked in the top five in several national polls and have five players who have been offered Division I scholarships. And their size and quickness were simply too much for the No. 3 Rams to overcome in a 74-33 Riverdale Baptist victory at the Beast of the East showcase Saturday night at St. Frances.

A 21-year-old man has been charged with robbing a student at knifepoint last week on the University of Maryland College Park campus, but a second suspect remains at large, campus police said Sunday. Isaiah Graham of Riverdale in Prince George's County was being held by Washington, D.C., police on unrelated robbery charges when University of Maryland police found evidence linking him to the attack Thursday evening on the College Park campus, according to a university police news release.